For more than a year, Szeremi said she had endured multiple drunken beatings, a near drowning in a bathtub, and an attempted suffocation with a pillow -- all at the hands of her husband, Charles Wierdsma. There were nearly 20 incidences in all -- according to reams of court files that became available following a recent civil trial -- leaving the 31-year-old newly married Montessori teacher with a collection of cuts, bruises, and in one particularly brutal confrontation, a strike to the ear that made her so dizzy she had to go to the hospital.

Szeremi said she appealed to her husband's family for help and was told by her mother-in-law that the best way to avoid the spousal wrath was to simply stay quiet and appear to be busy reading a book or knitting.

Charles Wierdsma. Courtesy of the Boulder County Sheriff s Office.

But keeping a low profile didn't work for Szeremi.

On May 29, 2011, Wierdsma became enraged when his wife left to buy breakfast burritos and returned to their home on Utica Avenue in Boulder later than he liked. Wierdsma, 35, pinned his wife against the wall with the dining room table and then punched her in the face and back of the head, according to a police report.

Szeremi ran out of the house without shoes, jumped in her car and, for the first time since the abuse began 18 months earlier, called the cops. They met her at Folsom and Bluff streets, where an officer noticed "redness and swelling" below Szeremi's right eye and a large bruise on her right shin. Wierdsma was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, third-degree assault and false imprisonment.

The arrest set in motion a drawn-out process that ended just last month when a Boulder County jury awarded Szeremi more than $1 million in damages in a related civil case.

'I can lose everything'

If Szeremi thought the arrest of her husband would cause her in-laws to now reach out to her with help or sympathy, she quickly learned the opposite.

Her father-in-law, Thomas Wierdsma, urged her not to pursue charges against his son, Szeremi said. He also asked Szeremi in a voicemail and text message, now outlined in civil court documents, to delete photos of her bruised face that she had posted on her Facebook page. Days later, he texted his daughter-in-law telling her he would be evicting her from the Boulder home he owned and that she shared with his son, even though she was part owner through marriage.

"It's not what you expect from your family," Szeremi recounted tearfully in her attorney's office in Boulder last week. "I had this feeling that maybe it's me -- I'm being punished because I called the police."

It didn't stop there. The Hungarian-born Szeremi, who came to the United States six years ago and got permanent legal residency, or a green card, received an email from Thomas Wierdsma, a senior vice president with the GEO Group, that sent chills down her spine. GEO is one of the largest private prison companies in the world -- with $1.6 billion in revenues and 20,000 employees across 115 facilities -- and the company operates several immigration detention facilities for the federal government, including one in Aurora.

"I understand that you currently have no plans to move out of our home," the elder Wierdsma wrote on June 21, 2011. "I will be copying the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement with this and other information. As you know, I funded the legal work and processing fees for you to become a citizen but am now disappointed in your actions which now require legal proceedings."

Szeremi immediately contacted an immigration attorney.

"I just got very scared," she said. "I thought he can deport me and that I can lose everything. It made me feel like I did something wrong, like I was the bad guy."

Witness tampering

That email -- along with another Thomas Wierdsma sent to one of Szeremi's attorneys a week later saying he was "involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Denver with all relevant information, including her social media postings, legal actions required for her eviction and other information we possess regarding her application for citizenship" -- was a red flag for Boulder attorney John Pineau.

Because the younger Wierdsma was under a restraining order to have no contact with his wife, Pineau said, it meant his father was also barred from contacting Szeremi on his son's behalf. That was especially important because Szeremi would likely be a witness in her husband's criminal felony abuse case, he said.

"While there were all these restraining orders out there, this guy felt free to tamper with a witness," Pineau said. "He used his money and power to endanger us all by tampering with a witness in a felony case."

Pineau filed a counterclaim against the Wierdsmas in Boulder District Court claiming father and son conspired against his client -- to illegally evict Szeremi, to keep her from reporting her husband to authorities, and to use the threat of deportation -- in order to intimidate her.

"(Thomas Wierdsma) perpetrated all of this while... committing felony witness tampering, witness retaliation, and witness intimidation, all while working in concert with the man who beat Ms. Szeremi (multiple) times over two years," the brief reads.

In a deposition, Thomas Wierdsma is quoted as saying he was "frustrated" and merely "blowing off steam" when he said he would send information about his daughter-in-law to federal immigration officials.

Neither of the Wierdsmas chose to speak to the Camera last week.

Jury awards damages

Last month, a Boulder County jury awarded Szeremi $1.2 million after a weeklong civil trial. The jurors found that both men had exhibited "outrageous conduct."

Pineau said the most significant aspect to the verdict was the jury's award of $150,000 in punitive damages against Thomas Wierdsma, as opposed to just $50,000 against his son.

"Punitive damages are the jury's own personal statement about who they think should be punished," Pineau said. "When they decided to punish and send a message here, they focused on Thomas three-to-one. The jury is saying they want to make an example of Thomas Wierdsma."

Thomas Wierdsma declined to comment Friday through his Denver-based lawyer, Michael Knauf. GEO didn't answer a series of questions the Camera emailed to the Boca Raton, Fla.-based company and GEO declined to make available Thomas Wierdsma or CEO George Zoley for an interview last week.

Charles Wierdsma's attorney, Dennis Tharp, didn't return several messages left at his Boulder office on Friday.

Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett said he hasn't been contacted about any allegations of criminal witness tampering in the case. But he said he takes the possibility of such interference seriously.

"If there is a factual basis that someone committed perjury or intimidation of a witness, we would investigate that thoroughly and pursue it vigorously," he said. "The integrity of the justice system is a top priority for us."

Pineau said he intends to "share every bit of evidence" with the district attorney if asked.

'Be myself again'

Thomas Wierdsma has returned to Florida and his job with GEO, and his son, who last fall pleaded guilty to a single felony count of second-degree assault against his former wife and was sentenced to two years probation and 60 days jail, is once again a free man.

Szeremi, in the meantime, is grateful for the civil jury's verdict but has been told that it could be years before she sees any money, given the length of the appeals process and her ex-husband's uncertain financial health.

"The jury is under the impression that they've left Beatrix with a large amount of money," said English Hopkins, founder and executive director of Superior-based The Hearts of Hope Foundation LLC.

Hopkins said her organization, which helps heal and empower those who are abused, has been helping Szeremi back on her feet after a year spent in litigation and lawyers' offices.

"We've helped her get back into a normal life," Hopkins said. "We tell her she's OK and that she's going to get through this."

Szeremi said she continues to fear her ex-husband and wonders how it is that her father-in-law can remain in the comfort of the executive suite after doing what he did.

"He was threatening an immigrant where it's not OK to use his power and his money over people and to use it in a way he's not supposed to," she said. "It's very frightening that someone who does things like this can stay in his position."

But she said she's ready to move on, and to some degree, she already has. Szeremi is once again working as a teacher in Boulder County and looking for a new place to live.

"I would love to put myself together again and be myself again," she said. "And I would like to write a book so that other people with similar experiences can learn from it and try to avoid the pain that I had to go through."

She also spoke of one day getting married again.

"One day, I hope I'll have a family, children," Szeremi said. "But first I have to learn how to trust people again."

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